The Regional Difference And Number Increasing Of Centenarians In Zhejiang Province

Since ancient times, live to one hundred years old is the expectation of everyone in the world. Researching the regional difference and number increasing of centenarians can help to reveal the natural and social factors that influence the longevity.The regional difference and number increasing of centenarians in Zhejiang province were studied in this thesis. It was revealed that the regional distribution of centenarians differed greatly in Zhejiang. They assembled obviously. There lived more centenarians in rural areas than that in the city. More centenarians occurred in the coastal areas than in the inland. There showed two major areas of high longevity level in Zhejiang, i.e., along the coast of Hangzhou Gulf and Wentai.The increase rates of centenarian number were different among all the cities of Zhejiang. The higher level of aging, the faster the centenarian number increased. In general, the factors affecting the regional distribution and number increasing of centenarians in Zhejiang mainly were due to social economic development level. Simultaneously, nature factors such as the average temperature of the coldest month and the hottest month also showed corresponding effects. In some areas, natural factors may even be the chief thing.The detailed natural and social influences on regional difference and number increasing of centenarians in Whenzhou and Hangzhou, where the number of centenarians were top in Zhejiang, were further examed.The number of centenarians of Whenzhou ranked the first in Zhejiang Province. In the past years, the number of centenarians of Whenzhou continuoursly increased. Yet, the increasing rate was lower than that of the whole province, and its centenarian proportion in Zhejiang came down. The absolute number and the density of centenarians in Yueqing, Cang'nan and Pingyang, three coastal counties, were higher than that in the other mountainous counties. Howerver, according to the relative number, the mountainous areas showed a higher longevity level, especially in Taishun, Wencheng and Pingyang Counties. The natural factors seemed to be the main reason for the regional distribution difference of centenarians in Whenzhou.The number of centenarians of Hangzhou is only less than that of Whenzhou in Zhejiang province. The number of centenarians increased from year to year at a rate about 20%. According to the spatial distribution, it was found that the farther away from the main urban area, the less centenarians. The number of centenarians decreased 1.4 people per million peole when the distance from urban area increased every 10 Km. Economic development level had a critical influence to the distribution pattern of centenarians in HangZhou.